Xbox 2 is Microsoft's attempt to replace PC

Why Microsoft is using the PowerPC for the Xbox2

The XBOX2 will be Microsoft's attempt to replace the PC. It will have browsing capabilities, gaming, and a more flexible operating system. (installing end user software, like browsers, and other apps. designed for Windows!!) Though they will still attempt to lock down the BIOS to only work with windows. (no linux for a few months until they can hack it)

I think you're not getting the big picture as MS will be selling this not just as a gaming console, but a box that truly does everything a PC can do, DVD/CD player, TIVO like functionality, plus a gaming console.

Chris666

Microsoft talked up ASN thing last year

Mike,

I have a question that may be interesting. A year or so ago, openssl had this ASN vulnerability, and of course, Microsoft played it up, telling us how open source stuff was insecure. Then, someone started grepping various binaries for the APIs that openssl uses, and lo and behold, a bunch of Microsoft binaries showed up.

The rest of the world just applied the latest openssl patches, recompiled, and, in some cases, just downloaded rpms or debs and was done.

However, it appears to take Microsoft more than half a year to fix this problem, and if the grepping fella was correct, Microsoft is only taking the fix from openssl anyway...

Which means, contrary to Microsoft's assertation, black hats knew about this a long time ago (heck, if I knew...) and this means you may have been "owned" without anyone knowing it.

But, and here's the question: Microsoft keeps telling us how secure they are, because, gosh darn it, lookit all those linux security vulnerabilities. But, with this ASN bug for example, it took Microsoft more than half a year to fix it. Now, I understand that at certain companies, at year end, there's a rush to book revenue and delay payments. Is there an SEC equivalent for counting the number of security vulnerabilities/year? And should Microsoft have booked this security hole in 2003 or 2004?

Tai

There's a Difference in the Dollar

To Mike

I have just taken note that the Aussi dollar is at 77.5c compared to the U.S. Dollar. That means that prices for computer parts should be a fair bit cheaper than what they were last year when the dollar was only at about 55c compared. But at present most computer part prices (cpu's, graphic's, ram) are about double or more then the prices in the U.S. market. Any reason for this?

Tim Mayne

Who cares about Windows 64?

Hidely Hodely,

Isn't all this hype surrounding the (non) availability of Windows-64 a bit silly?

What exactly is it going to do for us, the “enthusiasts” that AMD is trying to sell the chips to, anyway?

Shirley Windows doesn't have that much under the hood which, when 64-tified, will grossly improve our “computing experience” since frame rates are largely determined by GPU hardware anyway, games and media encoders could easily have their computationally critical sections compiled to 64-bit code without requiring the whole OS to be 64-tified (*), and most application software works quite nicely in the 32-bit universe thank you.

(*) similar to the old WIN32S on 16/32 Windows & CPUs - someone just needs to write the tools and a thunking layer.

And of course there's negatives. If the move to X86-32 was anything to go by (architectural differences from X86-16 notwithstanding) executable 64-bit code will be significantly bigger, meaning that caches and system RAM aren't as effective per MB, load times lengthen, more disk traffic, etc.

I didn't get where I am today by wanting everything to be twice as big as it is.

Cheers,
Shirley Knot

More Ebuyer Woes

Dear Letterman,

I took some comfort while reading one of your articles ( here) the other day. I too have had very poor service from eBuyer, and as yet still haven't concluded the matter and it has been dragging on for over 4 weeks now. I ordered a full system minus a hard drive, which I bought elsewhere (dabs.com). After over 2 weeks and a lot of messing around eBuyer delivered my goods, but got it wrong and sent me a wrong case. I've had my bits for over a week, but cannot build it because I dont have the correct case! I have bought multiple items from eBuyer in the past and have not had any trouble. eBuyer seemed to have difficulty obtaining me a gigabyte motherboard, so I cancelled that part of the order to speed things up. Dabs delivered the same motherboard the next day and were cheaper on that item! I'm stuck waiting for eBuyer's RMA process to work. From reading the terms and conditions on their website it seems that I may be responsible for shipping a computer case back to them at my cost - when it was their mistake! I'm hoping you will name and shame eBuyer, and that they learn some lessons about customer service. I dont believe myself and Joe are are unique stories!

I have included all the correspondence so far that I have entered into with eBuyer. I am currently waiting for over 3 days for a response to eNote No.5 and my RMA request.

Fingers crossed, I might get it resolved before March! (hopefully by which time my new system will not be obsolete!)

Kind Regards,
Ian Robertson

The Big Picture on the Xbox2

In the article mentioned in the subject mr. Strickland claims that: "Without a doubt the Xbox 2 will be the world's first consumer supercomputer ever.".

I urge you, or rather mr. Strickland, to read this excellent article on the subject: http://www.dansdata.com/gz017.htm.

The article claims, that "This statement is, to use a technical expression, 'a big fat pile of marketing'." and is quite worth a read, even if it isn't about the Xbox2, but rather about the chipset in the Xbox1. Put the kettle on and read all about it from one of the best technical writers on the net today.

Yours sincerely
Jakob Kusk

And more on the Xbox 2

Interesting letter, but one question no one has answered so far is: Why the obvious shift from GPU power to CPU power? Traditionally, consoles have relied heavily on their Graphics processing power and not so much on the CPU power. After all, the PS2 has a puny 300MHz CPU and can play games that look many times better looking than anything possible on a slow PC.

What is the overall plan? After all, game developers should be getting "instructions" on how to program for the Xbox 2. (If they don't start now, there won't be many launch titles.) But if you're developer, such a shift in power-focus is very relevant. What are they supposed to do with the extra computational power?

When hardware Transform & Lightning became a standard part of the graphics chips (Which became GPU's) the CPU was relieved from the heavy 3d calculations. But with 3 dual core, hyperthreadded CPUs, you have to wonder if that processing power won't in fact superior even to the hard coded computational power of the R500 GPU.

Could it be that ATI would take a few steps back and use the computational power of the PPC976s instead of it's own GPU? I find that hard to believe, but if not, I really wonder what Microsoft wants the developers to do with the extra power.

I'm not saying developers wont eventually come up with ways to get those chips busy, but it IS a big shift of focus for a developer compared to titles produced today. (I used to work in the gaming industry, btw.) To be honest, at this point the seemingly crazy focus on CPU power over GPU power seems to be a panic response to PS3's Cell technology rather than a well thought out plan.... But I could be wrong of course.. It's possible it will all make perfect sense to us once Microsoft officially explains the Xbox2 specs.

DES

Macintosh on an Xbox2

So, a G5 in the xbox2? How long until somebody tries to put OSX on one of those things - and if it were possible (which seems a long shot given how obvious a thing to do it is), wouldn't it be sweet irony indeed?

Of course, it's hard to say who it would inconvenience more - Microsoft, for selling a system which can run the operating system of a major rival, or Apple, for having an ultra cheap hardware shell sold by THEIR rival which could obsolete lower end Apple hardware...

David W.

Windows for AMD64 a poor excuse for an OS

Mike,

I'm sure I'm not alone when I say this, but having gone to the trouble of registering & downloading the aforementioned as an ISO file, I was disappointed to find that in order to install it on my AMD-64 3000+ setup, it would mean having to use an old IDE drive as opposed to the SATA I currently have installed. This is due to there not being a promise SATA (Non-RAID) driver for this version of windows.

Whilst this isn't entirely the vole's fault, it does baffle me how they think that releasing, a beta test version of an OS that has very little manufacturer driver support is acceptable. I guess the fact that lots (See Here: - http://www.planetamd64.com ) of people have gone through the same trials & tribulations as myself is reason enough for them, but if MS think they're gonna win people away from the likes of Linux, etc. with this poor excuse of an OS they're sadly mistaken. It's lucky I still have my 32-bit version of windows on a different partition or I'd be totally up-a-creek-without-a-paddle. I would hasten to add that unless you can find specific 64-bit drivers for all your hardware, don't go to the bother of downloading the ISO, as it'll only end in tears.

Yours,

A disgruntled WinXP 64-bit edition downloadee.

Disney and Microsoft: a marriage made in hell

Ugh. This story brought visions to me of families being forced to use Microsoft software just to play their Disney movies for their kids. why,Why,WHY did they choose Microsoft?! It is obvious to everyone Microsoft is a monopoly, and they will weasel out of punishments and into a bed of roses if they can. But this story suggests Microsoft has only just BEGUN to be a monopoly.

Why didn't Disney at least start talking to Apple? Oh, wait, Steve Jobs (while wearing his Pixar CEO hat) just recently torked off Disney management by saying Disney had lost their creativity. (see here http://www.iht.com/articles/128365.html )

It is time for the Open Source community to collaborate on a package of Digital Rights Management tools, if they haven't done it already. Like it or not, it is true. Even though the open source community is extremely dogmatic and passionate about things being freely accessible, companies who want to be compensated for their content are going to want to protect that content. The best the Open Source community can do is freely provide tools that do that. It would be excellent strategy and would attract more content creators to Open Source, because then they wouldn't have to pay licensing fees for proprietary tools. If there AREN'T any digital rights management tools that are open source, then open source is in danger of excluding themselves from an important and useful area. (If others consider it important, then it is.) It's called "beat them at their own game".

What if Disney used an Open Source digital rights management tool? Then media players would need to be able to play it. That would go a long way toward making Open Source an industry standard (which implies acceptance) instead of merely an alternative,

Michaela Stephens

Ebuyer Woes - Again

I have just read with amusement you story about e-buyers RMA woes. That guy is relatively lucky 73 hours is doing well, it took me in excess of two weeks to return an item to them and the process still finished. To try and keep the story relatively short…

I bought something for my computer and for some reason it wasn't compatible (don't know why, usb controller just didn't want to work with it) no worries I thought, Distance selling directives, its is only two days old, I can just return it. Their “automated” RAM system hasn't heard of the distance selling directive though. It assumes the item is faulty and wont actually let me return it to ebuyer, instead telling me to contact the manufacturer for a direct replacement. I sent them an e-note explaining I wished to return it under the distance selling directive and a mere 72 hours later “sarah” told me to use their online returns system and “closed” the e-note (there is no way for the customer to re-open them either!).

I then called them spent a happy hour on hold before having to hang up through sheer frustration (also it is an 0870 number, so isn't cheap - apologies to MY employer! who will be getting that bill)

Try 2 at “e-notes”, this time complaining about the incompetence of the first one and asking to return the goods as I entitled to by law (and I am sure there should be a clause in there about companies who make in unnecessarily difficult to return the goods, this is borderline inertial selling here!) . Another 3 days wait and I get a reply saying they have asked the returns department to “unlock” the item so it can be returned directly to them. Of course the returns department do nothing!

I sent them an even more threatening e-note after this and got one in reply saying they had tried to contact me and left a message (I never got any message, I don't know if any of your readers got a strange voicemail from ebuyer but I didn't!) and could I call them to sort it out

This time I decided to stick it out, and after a mere 45 minutes on hold I am speaking to a person, who puts me through to the returns department... another 30 minutes later and someone actually answers the returns department phone (all still on an 0870 number) they only seem to have about 3 staff working for them! After another 10 minute with this guy I have my RMA and am ready to return the goods (at my own expense),,, after just over an hour and a half, spent mostly listening to bad hold music.

I booked a courier to return the goods and the day of collection came around and there was no courier. I rang the courier firm I had booked to ask why, they said that e-buyer's returns address is a PO BOX and they cant deliver to PO BOX's. I am serious considering just throwing the goods away so I never have to deal with this company again. They may be a little bit cheaper than the competition but so far I have spent approaching 3 hours on hold to an 0870 number the cost of the calls certainly outweighs any saving and my time could have definitely been better spent!

Chris McFaul

Even more Ebuyer

I too am having problems with eBuyer lately, and like Joe can't get in contact with them. Their phone line is constantly engaged and they have the ring back facility disabled.

On the 8th January 2004, I ordered amongst other things a Netgear DG834G 54 Mbps Wireless ADSL Firewall Router. Unfortunately, I received the non wireless and substantially cheaper version Netgear DG834 ADSL Firewall Router.

After waiting a week for my eNote regarding the wrong item to be answered, I gave up and cancelled that one and wrote a new one adding my disgust with the non reply. This was once again ignored, then like Joe I managed to get lucky and finally sort out an RMA via the telephone on the 21st of January 2004.

As requested and at my own expense - £6.55 to be refunded latter - I shipped the item back to eBuyer clearly following their returns instructions. The Royal Mail via their tracking service confirmed it's arrival at 09:40 on 3rd February 2004.

Now a week latter and yet another eNote unanswered the status is still showing waiting and the date received shows not received.

What can I do, I have now had to borrow an ADSL modem whilst I wait for mine to arrive if ever, and I'm seriously considering getting the credit card company to cancel and chase all moneys owed.

I'm totally disgusted with the service provided by eBuyer and would air a sense of caution to any prospective customers.

Mike

Danny, Danny...

The Altivec unit of the G5 is a hack compared to the rest of the chip. It's there and it works, but it's the *non-vector* FPU units that have a RS/6000 pedigree. The Motorola Altivec units were a lot more efficient.

And why won't you say that the Xbox2 would make a great MacOS machine?

Tiago Silva

Thunderbird, Liebfraumilch, Mama Mia!

Thunderbird shares a namesake with a particularly cheap American wino swill, sort of like Liebfraumilch without the pedigree. However, the current Mozilla download namesake is proving to be intoxicatingly popular after yesterday's outing. It's only half-fermented, i.e. version 0.5, but the view layout options make up for it. And Firefox may conjure images of Clint Eastwood flying out of Russia, but it's named after the Red Panda. There is no truth to the rumor that the original name was Mozilla Civet. Again, it's a very popular download on this side of the pond tonight...just try getting extensions...still, it displays the inqwell with a great panache and flexibility, and worthy of mention somewhere in the queue. :)

Neal

More AMD 64 stuff

Hi Mike,

You are quite right, there are indeed various issues in regards to drivers for the new Windows for AMD64 beta. The two examples that you have chosen to write about are not infact issues :-

FastTrak Promise 376/378 RAID controller

This is an onboard solution and thus should be supported by the mobo manufacturers. I have this controller and the driver can be had below directly from Promise, this works just fine :-

http://www.promise.com/support/download/download2_eng.asp?productId=107&category=driver&os=0

ATI graphics drivers

The Windows beta has it's own native driver which performs perfectly well. I even got an improved 3Dmark 2003 score with my ATI Radeon 9800 Pro !!. Although I do admit that ATI engineered 64 bit driver would and should be superior.

As I said there are indeed issues with drivers, especially my printer / scanner, wireless networking gear & ADSL modem which do not have 64bit drivers at all and thus do not work with Windows 64bit.

Hope this helps and please continue to bring us great IT news / gossip.

Mark Webber

The INQUIRER

First of all thanks for your great info.

Even though it may not please traditional journalism (you know the one really depending too much on some big advertisers) I think you're doing the right thing.

Trying to do real journalism and accept the fact that sometimes your info is wrong and just simply retract it.

This no signing NDA stuff is your freedom, it costs you a lot but... In the end... I think it is worth it.

Anyway thank you for your work.

Now the reason for this mail :

Imagine a heap of Intel AMD64 drivers (written by Intel) that don't work properly as long as Intel doesn't have its x64 in place (by the way destroying the AMD64/AMD image even more for all the corporate buyers who so much like to leave things in place as long as it works...).

It would leave all the time for Intel to install its 64 bit architecture and later recapture all market share eventually lost to AMD.

If AMD could understand that and try to avoid it.

Maybe what AMD needs to do is to write the drivers for all Intel hardware, because Intel might try to use that weapon a lot.

Best regards,

Name supplied

More Xbox 2

Hi Inq!

Read Danny's view on the Xbox2 console and I agree with his analysis. It is clear the X2 will be the king of consoles based on its specs. Just one point though, how much is this super-computer going to cost the customers and M$. Clearly, with 3 dual-cores PowerPC cpu's(which I might add are server level beasts) and ATI R500 gpu, plus the other specs, it will surely cost >1000$ just to manufacture. With low margins from games etc, how will M$ fund this? It clearly cannot sell the console above the $300-400 mark. Moreover, PS still has a much better collection of games than XBOX. Then their is also the compatibility issue with older games. How much money is M$ prepared to sink this time?